A week after voters threw them out of the majority, House Republicans picked their new leader. On Tuesday, November 10, 2026, they voted behind closed doors to make Jim Jordan of Ohio the Republican leader in the next Congress. The vote was 106 to 73, according to a House Republican staff member. He beat Steve Scalise, the current majority leader.
Republicans lost more than 40 House seats last week. The Associated Press has called 166 seats for Republicans and 255 for Democrats. That leaves the party with its smallest House minority since the 1990s.
After the vote, Jordan told reporters that "House Republicans will fight for American families." He did not take questions.
There's a lot he has never answered.
The Ohio State question he has never answered
Jim Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University from 1986 to 1994. In those years, the team doctor, Richard Strauss, was sexually abusing athletes. Former wrestlers say Jordan knew about it and did nothing. Jordan denies it.
Talking Points Memo put it plainly the day Jordan won: Jordan "stonewalled, refused to credibly address the allegations and eventually his colleagues and conservative media gave him a pass. He's never come clean about any of it." A documentary last year brought new accounts from ex-wrestlers and a referee. "To say that (Jordan) knew nothing, that nothing ever happened, it's a flat out lie," former Ohio State wrestler Dan Ritchie said in it.
This is not ancient history. In July 2025, Jordan was deposed under oath in a federal lawsuit over the abuse. That case only wound down this June, when Ohio State agreed to pay $100 million to settle all but one of the remaining claims.
House Republicans knew all of this when they voted. They elected him anyway.
The rules are for other people
Here is how Jordan treats the law when it applies to him.
In 2022, the House committee investigating the January 6th attack issued Jordan a lawful subpoena. He refused. Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro defied similar subpoenas and were sentenced to prison. Jordan faced nothing. He became chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and from that chair he has issued at least 91 subpoenas to other people.
We've written about how he used that power: demanding that Jack Smith be prosecuted, and staying silent when Trump's own prosecutors admitted they had indicted an innocent man.
Nearly 20 years, no laws
In almost two decades in Congress, Jim Jordan has never sponsored a bill that became law. Not one. His job, as he sees it, is to fight. CNN described him as having "the ability to act as a political attack dog" in a way his allies said Scalise lacks.
Scalise had told members he would look for ways to work with Democrats. Jordan's camp rejected that. A person close to Jordan told CNN that Democrats "have the numbers, they don't need us." The same person said, "[Trump] is still the leader of our party. We are going to be fighting tooth and nail to make sure his agenda continues to stay implemented."
That agenda is what voters just rejected. CNN noted that Republicans chose a harder-line leader instead of moderation, after most of their remaining moderates were wiped out in the midterms.
The bottom line
A week after losing more than 40 House seats, House Republicans voted 106 to 73 to make Jim Jordan their leader. He has never passed a law. He ignored a subpoena about January 6th while issuing at least 91 of his own. And former Ohio State wrestlers say he knew their team doctor was abusing athletes and did nothing, a charge he has never credibly answered.
Source
- US House Republicans elect Ohio firebrand Jim Jordan to lead party in next Congress — Florida Phoenix / States Newsroom, November 10, 2026
- Jim Jordan and The Ohio State Student Athlete Sex Abuse Cover Up — Talking Points Memo
